[Reality Check] Joseph Calleja 

Very well said, Ed. Thank you so much!!!

@@AfroPoli You're welcome! Much love.

Thank you for listening and best regards to Peru!!!

Yep...

There are quite a few dramatic tenors, but they have been singing baritone since 20 or 30 years ago. Easy tops, longer careers, clever choice if you ask me. Only downside is the art itself, the audiences and the real baritones.

@@siddspain A true dramatic tenor usually doesn't have a baritonal quality. Del Monaco's timbre was very bright especially after his car accident.

@@Davanzo_DieGol Agreed! Someone like Del Monaco did not sound like a baritone at all. He had that very strong bronze middle register with a brilliant sound. Corelli did not sound like a baritone, people will say he was spinto, perhaps, but he still had a dramatic voice he certainly did not have lyrical voice. There are many other examples such as Merli and Tamagno. A lot of people didn't like his voice, but you can add Kurt Buam as well. You will find more of the baritone sounding tenors, or perhaps baritones with high notes in Wagner. They do not sound very good in the heavier Italian repertoire.

@@Davanzo_DieGol oh totally, I agree, but they still sing baritone. I don't want to name names but they are quite obvious for the reasons you noted

I heard Bernheim sing Romeo at the Met in March. It’s a nice voice, however, it’s not that big. He could only be heard well when he was singing downstage. His upper register is very forced and he sang his high notes with a wide-open mouth and a lot of physical strain. I don’t think he’ll last very long if he keeps doing this. Overall, it was not terrible, but there is a very noticeable gap in the quality of his recordings versus live performances. I don’t know if he’s a full-blown leggiero tenor, but he definitely does not possess the lyrico-spinto voice that is required for one to adequately sing roles like Romeo or Rodolfo.

That would be interesting. I have to admit after hearing him live, my opinion of Vogt has changed somewhat.

@@jefolson6989 I've read that his voice slices through the orchestra like butter live. Was that your experience live?

My experience was that he sounds the same timbre-wise as on record, but his voice does project more than you might expect.

@@jefolson6989 Yes, i've had the same experience! Oddly enough i have to conclude he makes a pretty good Lohengrin, as to me Lohengrin is a character with a very youthful and pure image, and his sound somehow fits that bill surprisingly well.

Dear Jana, this is really hard to answer. As always, it depends on what suits your voice. I don't believe in one-fits-all-solutions. But if I may say one thing... stay away from Internet-gurus, they usually live off your hopes and fears. Also, you'd have to meet your teacher in person, video isn't very useful, at least not in my opinion. I do know someone who isn't too bad, but that man lives in Berlin and Rome. If you are interested, drop me an email (find it in the channel info). Best wishes! Daniele

“Let’s pay hundreds of dollars to go see this shitty singer and clap”🤡

That's because we live in an age when 'belting' is considered 'a type of singing', not simply wrong singing. These days most opera goers (not all!), some that might even call themselves enthusiasts, go to the opera without any particular expectation of what it is they are supposed to hear, having never been raised with it, but simply to comfort themselves that they are still 'cultured'. Moreover we live in an age of prodigies, where any prospective pianist or violinist has likely already been outdone by a 10-year prodigy. Quite honestly i often think Rachmaninoff himself would have never made it had he appeared a century later than he did. Just think.. most of the prodigies wold have come and gone, but the world would have never known Rachmaninoff. While opera for obvious reasons cannot be as overwhelmed by this phenomenon, it is not unscathed. Obviously you cannot have a prodigy baritone at 10 years old (thank goodness!!), but when you get into 12 or 13 year old 'sopranos', for example, it is not outside the realm of 'good' fakery. Add to that the clownery around the "X-country's got talent" phenomenon, and you have given the whole fake-star practice a formidable outlet. I could go on, but you get the picture. It would be a miracle if the elusive technique of opera singing did not suffer a crisis in this pandemonium of contemporary pseudo-art and anti-culture. I think the answer might be to seek out and truly nurture those rare cases where a true talent is developing on a true path and to encourage and support those pockets of truth, ensure that the finances of education are never a barrier to their success. Maybe instead of using up all energy to kick the bad ones, let's promote the truly good ones and be truly honest about who they are. Surely they must be somewhere. Sometimes it takes only one, a small seed to grow a big tree of understanding. Maybe we need like just one good example to emerge in each voice type.

@@comment6864 I agree with you. I also think the main reason there are no great singers today is lack of love.

First of all: thank you for always returning to my videos, it's a great pleasure. Now, Moccia. I'll go and report. I've watched this video of Un dì all'azzurro (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-70xXWRkzbl4.html). He indeed seems to successfully imitate MDM quite a bit, and I don't know it this is good or not. Too much imitation is a great risk, artistically speaking. While he is impressive in the low/middle and passaggio range, he falls back on the Bbs. They "flicker". To me that's a sign that the weight is too heavy. But let's see. I've learned my lesson, I won't judge anyone anymore on the base of RU-vid videos! Ciao! :)

​@@AfroPoliMoccia seems to me a good current tenor, the only thing I really don't like about him is his imitation, but apart from that, he is an example of a lyrical tenor

@@AfroPoli It is also my impression of Moccia. His high range seems a bit forced (and at times flat) to me. And his attempts at imitating MDM’s mannerism sound a bit forced, too. MDM could exaggerate and declaim like he did because he was a dramatic tenor with impressive material and technique. Imitating his mannerism can be dangerous for lighter voices imho. Also, I think using video/audio for commentary purposes does not count as copyright infringement, so that Turandot video, you can definitely appeal.

I think the problem with young people imitating famous singers is that they imitate the mature voice. Moccia is trying to sound like MDM at 45, while he should be thinking about what he was like at 25. I believe in his early career MDM sang both Rodolfo and Pinkerton. I think the way Moccia is singing is very dangerous for someone his age. The (very evident) flatting, and as Mr. Poli said, the flickering B flats are signs he is blowing out the instrument. Tilting your head back, jutting your jaw forward, and singing with arms open is not technique; it’s theatrics.

Moccia is indeed an impressive impressionist and I admire the evident dedication and talent it must have taken to create such an effective imitation. The strange thing to me it that he seems to have taken mid-1960s del Monaco as his model, when the Maestro himself was having some difficulties and, indeed, tended to avoid Bb in concerts and frequently sing rather flat. Still, I do appreciate the sheer insanity of producing a near facsimile of one of the most distinctive tenors of all time, declamatory mannerisms and all.

A new name to me... thanks! I watched his E lucevan le stelle (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6AXgfZlF99c.html), certainly a professionally recorded, enhanced sound. But the timbre is very nice. I put him on my bucket list!

Throaty, forced top. A student of the modern school. Expect no great career.

The voice is quite small live, and the upper register constricts. No bloom. I was disappointed. Lise Davidsen dwarfed him and I don’t think she’s really the true dramatic she’s made out to be.

@@AfroPolione thing people need to know, and perhaps you might choose to point out: you are developing an opinion based on multiple encounters. It’s so easy to judge with one hearing, but who knows what that singer was going thru around that performance. While I enjoy hearing your opinion, I ask that viewers remember to give the singers the benefit of the doubt, room and time to grow, learn and mature. Judge all u want. Especially if steeped in the tradition. Thx Daniele for including multiple examples over time for context.

​@@operarocks Thanks, much appreciated. But what I talk about is also quite anecdotal, it's a snap shot. I have not heard Calleja on multiple occasions. His performance just confirmed what I had suspected. And I'm not saying that my opinion is the "truth", it's my subjective impression. It's important to remember that. Thanks for commenting! :)

It's not heft but pushing in Calleja's case.

One word: money! He gets paid a great deal of money per performance, and the heavier the repertory, the bigger the pay check.

Thanks, very interesting. And you should make that video, I think. It can teach others what not to do and where not to go. I am not surprised about Hymel btw.

LiVigni... OMG. I'll include Calleja in my prayers!

Yeah - he had a vocal crisis in the middle of his career...I believe then he started with Jack. Is this an old recording? I would imagine so. Too bad if it is recent...

@@violingirl2 2019 if I remember correctly.

@@AfroPoli woww...too bad. thanks for your vids.

Odd? How? 😀

@@AfroPoli it was this past year at the Met. It was his Loris Ipanov. And I saw him in a recital later that month in a recital. It’s not a voice I’d associate with that kind of repertoire, however he cut in a very similar way to Kraus, oddly enough, and frankly was heard over everyone. The top was quite bizarre though. Everything above an A seemed like his top note, but then he could just sing higher and higher.

@@Chris-wm4th Weird. The voice isn't small, though. He can be heard. What ultimately ruined it for me was his completely out of focus top range from Ab and higher. How was it for you?

@@AfroPoli I heard Beczala 10 years ago. It was not very impressive. His voice chokes up over the staff.

@@AfroPoli I heard him as the Duca at the Met last year and him and he had by far the best projection and acting on stage. Despite being 55 he was still springy and charming, and he even sang the high D in the duet. He sounded vastly different live than he does on recordings, which was one of the reasons I stopped judging singers based on recordings. He sounded great in Lohengrin as well, which I did not expect. Can't say the same for some of the other people in the cast (Evgeny Nikitin as Telmarund sounded terrible, I do not care how well he projects).

Grazie del commento. Un cordiale saluto!

Very bad

@@ariasemusicaslegendadas7657 Without explanation, such a comment is worthless.

in my humble opinion, it's not the worst. many great singers had a fast vibrato, but it didn't make the note sound off pitch and they had great breath support and large voices. Calleja isn't one of them, he doesn't have any redeeming qualities and his "vibrato"? is out of control, weak, not musical. But who could say Ruffo, Lauri Volpi, Benvenuto Franci or Conchita Supervia were bad singers? the wobble Lauri Volpi later developed is worst to my ears than a quick vibrato. Sometimes I like to better analyse by slowing down the recording, that way you can better analyse the vibrato. Also the musical abilities of a singer can make a vocal defect acceptable, I don't think perfection is achievable. But Calleja has no musical abilities... His interpretations are absolutely soulless and so is his presence on stage. Terrible.

​@@tinkerwithstuffI have to use google translator to write, so I only write two words

​@@visionfugitiveExactly, like Tamagno, he was an excellent spinto tenor, but unfortunately he had a tremolo

I heard him live in Ballo, shortly before he died. His voice was not huge, but it was sizeable. I don't think he would've been singing spinto roles had he been of an earlier generation, but I thought it was respectable.

Kinda hard to do a reality check on a dead man. My impression from his recording is that the voice has no ring, and lots of strains.

Licitra had his problems, but he had a good sized voice, even in the cavernous Met (not the only place I saw him).

I would just like to ask you this: what makes one ABLE to sing a role - is it whether they get through it or whether they sing like a “great”? I think Calleja is clearly able to get through rep. Sure, I can see that he’s not like a great, and there are better singers in the world. But singing is surely subjective, but what is not subjective is whether somebody gets through a role, and also to what level they are audible. I think operatic training is about those two things but the ‘beauty of their sound’ is subjective and anyone’s game. You appear to not account for the diversity of aesthetics and how people can like different noises. I like Calleja’s voice but then I’d prefer a spinto in Rodolfo any day of the week (as indeed, Puccini appeared to, namely with Widdop/Hislop). But my taste (or Puccini’s) doesn’t mean it’s right. We always need to account for taste in singing, in my view, otherwise we fall victim to ego-driven ill-equipped, inflexible philosophy. We cease to be able to critically think and debate on each other’s emotions if we are unable to deal with our own.

But it was not actually good. Otello is a battle commander who ends up murdering his own wife, he is not Rodolfo the nice guy poet. It is easy for lyric tenors to sing one aria from role in a pleasant manner. Lyric tenors have been allowed to perform dramatic repertoire without restraint, this only creates unrealistic ideals for real dramatic singers. Some people love Gigli's Andrea Chenier or Björling's Turandot for example. But these types of performances were obviously recorded in a studio, and these lyrical interpretations often completely misses the whole point of the role. With Gigli in Andrea Chenier you are only getting the young idealistic poet, there is no sense that the character is a strong revolutionary who is able to physically fight for himself. Björling sounds like a really nice guy, the boy next door who somehow ends up in a fantasy story. There is no sense that Calaf is actually a very egotistical character with somewhat of a selfish streak. He needs these characteristics to win over one of cruellest and strongest female characters. There would be no reason for Turandot to fall for the boy next door type of character, she needs to be challenged directly. Dramatic roles does not really call for great sensitivity and intellectual interpretations, these are usually roles that requires massive emotional or extreme outbursts that only dramatic singers can truly deliver. Dramatic repertoire has been completely destroyed by these practices and attitudes.

Thanks. No, I'm not saying that it is taboo. The only thing I expect when someone does it is a good top note. And he did clearly not deliver. Pollione... oh my.

I don't really have an opinion, I've never heard him live and I don't know how and what he teaches. What does he do? I only remember him from a video singing the Faust aria and someone writing that he sounded like Calleja. So, funny you mention him!

He studied with Nicolai Gedda for 3 years and was mentored by Pavarotti up until Pavarotti’s death, they were great friends since Robert was a young man. Fortunately he took many of Gedda’s best qualities but unfortunately some of Pavarotti’s worst. Have a listen to Swensen’s “Magische Tone”, some parts of it are magical. Finding a teacher in the conservatory setting has been very difficult for myself, I’ve searched high and low, America and Europe, certainly not the best that I could possibly find but he is the best I have found. I’ll be beginning my studies with him at Eastman in the fall.

​@@jackleslie1194 If you are looking for a good teacher in conservatoire I can highly recommend Dr. Stephen Robertsson or Julian Tovey at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Two teachers with a superb ear.

Be my guest! :D

Please do, I beg like Turandot to Calaf to reveal his name, or I beg! “io vimmmmmploro!” Manon , hahahahaha

@@fr9khg57h ahahahaha. "Il nome che cercate io solo só. M’è suprema delizia tenerlo segreto e possederlo io solo!"

@@XPRT10R Se i rimorsi, il pianto omai, Non vi parlano per me, Qual nessun mi vide mai, Io mi prostro al vostro pié! Hahahahahahahahahahaha, tell us the stories don’t keep us in suspense!!

@@XPRT10R A proposito, sono appena tornato da una Turandot veramente orribile. Inascoltabile!!!

And when you boo I bet some people tell you to shut up

Hahaha, wahre Worte!

Lange blonde Haare - now there is a true merit for a tenor !!!

I can’t with caprino 😑

@@draganvidic2039 Me neither.

Get that conductor a triple espresso....

So you basically need the approval of the general public, the major opera houses and publishing companies? You can easily just listen, and make up your own mind. You don't need other people to tell you how to think or how to view art. These in house recordings really does not sound good. It is somewhat unfortunately that bad opera singing tends to sound, extremely bad. There is line where you can hear objectively bad singing. You should play these clips to someone who is not a fan of opera, and ask them if they think it sounds good.

@@ZENOBlAmusic Yes, you do too. When you get up your butt and decide against the general consensus that this is a quality tenor, it means that you are either a uniquely gifted and misunderstood critic, or completely out of touch.